


Shattered

by orphan_account



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Swapfell, Angst, Chara Needs a Hug, Family, Gen, I don't know what else to tag honestly, It might seen rushed in sone places, It's really just the hype, That and I want to see content that ain't explicit so, and so does Papyrus, god help these two, help them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-09 18:06:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7811902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For years, the monsters have been trying to find a way to escape the Underground. Every single day is spent waiting for a human to arrive. Some have grown impatient, while others have the lingering doubt that a human will ever come. </p><p>But to reassure the young children in Snowdin that they will get the chance to see the sun, Papyrus ends up taking the Sentry duty—and while he’s not so sure if freedom will ever come, he’s willing to play along if it makes his family happy.</p><p>But what happens when a small child falls down? What happens when they flee the ruins and end up in Snowdin? What happens when the child meets Papyrus, and upon seeing how scared and weak they are, he can’t bring himself to turn them in? </p><p>What if instead, he takes it upon himself to take care of them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Me: maybe I should write some fluff instead of angst—  
> >Friend: *gives me permission to write a story loosely based off of their work*  
> >>Mind: you gotta write some angst.  
> Me: ...god damn it.

Losing the war with humanity wasn’t easy, neither was losing the Underground’s only hope to a human village. But thankfully, the queen, Toriel Dreemurr, had come up with a new way to free her subjects. With enough human souls, she’d be able to shatter the barrier and let everyone rule over the surface.

It’d take a long time, but it would all be worth it in the end.

And it did work for a while. Six humans had fallen down a few years after the death of the queen’s children, and one by one, she had collected the humans’ souls. Now, she only needed one more soul.

Since then, everyone had been on the watch for a human. Some were filled with lingering doubts, while others were determined to catch one and bring their soul to Toriel.

The people in Snowdin were no exception.

The Dog Sentry had been sniffing everywhere to see if a human had come by, the Snowed Inn Owner would check to see if anyone in the inn had been hiding a human, and the newest recruit of the royal guard had spent most of his time setting up puzzles and traps to make sure that any human that came by wouldn’t be able to escape.

The only one who hadn’t dedicated most of his time to looking for one was Papyrus.

While he did want to see what the surface was like, every now and then he’d have lingering doubts about whether a human would actually come down or not. He wasn’t good at catching humans anyway. One time, he had decided to help his brother set up some puzzles, only for the human—who he had believed to be wearing a leotard—to escape because of how easy the puzzles were to solve.

Sure, the human had willingly given their soul to Toriel later on, but still…Papyrus couldn’t help but feel as if it would take a long time for everyone to be freed—possibly even years.

* * *

“Hey, mister!” a voice called out.

Papyrus turned around and saw a group of children walking up to him. Out of the entire group, the only kid he recognized was Asriel, who was Undyne’s adoptive little brother.

“I heard that your brother’s the new recruit of the royal guard!” the small goat said. “He’s cool—well, not as cool as Alphys since she’s the head of the royal guard, but he’s almost as cool as her!”

“well, you’d be cool if you wore clothes like his every day,” Papyrus said, grinning a little. “but, uh…i don’t see why you’re comin’ to me when you should be talking about this with my brother.”

“He’s with the Dog Sentry,” another kid piped up. “He told us that if we wanted someone to talk to, we could go to you.”

“oh, well…” Papyrus scratched the back of his forehead. “i’m not really sure if i’m the one you should be talking to…why don’t you go talk to the shopkeeper?”

“She’s out on vacation with her family,” Asriel told him. “She said she’d be back tomorrow.”

 _shit,_ the skeleton thought as he turned away. _why’d she have to go on today—of all the days she could’ve left, why today?_

“Could you tell us a story, sir?” Asriel asked, snapping Papyrus out of his thoughts.

“uh, sure,” Papyrus replied, sitting down on a log. “what kind of story?”

“Well, could you tell us a story about humans?” Asriel asked as he and his friends sat down on some tree stumps.

“…did you know that a human’s soul is relatively weak, but can get stronger if it absorbs a boss monster’s soul?” Papyrus asked.

Asriel and the other kids gasped. “Woah, that’s so cool!” Asriel said. “But…what’s a boss monster?”

“you know, someone like Toriel or Alphys,” Papyrus explained. “a boss monster’s soul is strong—and i mean _very strong._ a boss monster’s soul can even persist after death.”

“Awesome,” the kids said in unison.

“anyway,” Papyrus continued, “if a human does absorb a monster’s soul, they get stronger, but if a boss monster absorbs a human’s soul…then that monster will be able to cross the barrier.”

“When I grow up, I wanna be just like Alphys!” Asriel declared, jumping up from his seat and putting his hand to his chest.

“nyeh heh heh,” Papyrus chuckled. “good luck with that, kid.”

“Mr. Papyrus, do you think we’ll ever be free?” Asriel asked with a more serious look on his face.

“…yeah, of course,” Papyrus lied. “in fact, freedom will come very soon.”

“I hope,” Asriel muttered. He then turned to his friends and said, “Come on, guys, let’s go!”

As the kids left, Papyrus let out a sigh and laid down on the log. “i hope so,” he muttered. “i hope…”

“(Aww, that’s so adorable!)” a voice cooed.

Papyrus got up from the log and saw the Dog Sentry and his brother standing at the doorway to the shed.

“let me guess…you heard all of that, didn’t you?” Papyrus asked.

“Well, most of it,” Doggo said as he walked up him. “And your brother just told us about the incident regarding the puzzles and how upset you were, and well…” Doggo turned to Sans and nodded at him.

“THERE’S A SENTRY POST NEAR THE ENTRANCE OF SNOWDIN, SO YOU COULD TAKE SENTRY DUTY IF YOU WANT TO,” Sans continued.

Papyrus looked back at Doggo and then looked back at Sans. His (adoptive) father and brother looked so happy…

“…alright, i’ll do it,” Papyrus said, nodding slowly.

“That’s the spirit!” Doggo said, smiling a little.

 _what have i just gotten myself into now?_ Papyrus thought as the others took him to his new sentry post.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Chara ran as fast as they could, dodging the bright balls of fire that were thrown at them.

“We’re almost there!” Tem cried out. “Keep on running, Chara! Don’t stop!”

“ _GET BACK HERE_!” a voice bellowed.

“I’m sorry, Asgore!” Chara yelled back, squeezing their eyes shut as they kept on running.

“There it is! There’s the exit!” Tem shouted as he saw a big door ahead. “Let’s go!”

Chara used their other hand to open the door before slamming it shut. They then sat down and wiped away some sweat from their forehead.

“That was close,” Tem murmured as he was set down on the ground.

Chara grabbed Tem and quickly backed away from the door as Asgore began to pound on it.

“It’s…it’s okay,” Tem said to the human. “He can’t hurt us, especially since there’s only one way out of the ruins…”

Chara nodded and put Tem down again. “But what now?” they asked. “There are probably other monsters like him out there…”

“Yeah, but…we’ve gotta keep going,” Tem said.

Chara let out a yawn. “But can’t we take a nap first?”

“Fine…” Tem sighed. “Stay here. I’ll go get us a blanket.”

And with that, he quickly scurried down the path ahead of him until he made it to a small town.

“Hey, little guy,” a voice said. Tem looked up and saw two dogs. The first dog bent down and asked, “What are you doing out here?”

“I’m…I’m trying to get my friend a blanket…you see, we were, uh…camping,” Tem lied.

“(Oh, I think I brought a spare one,)” the other dog said as she pulled out a blue blanket. “(It’s kind of small, but I think it’ll work for someone your size.)”

Tem noticed how the blanket seemed to be old, but he didn’t say anything. He took the blanket and nodded. “Thank you,” he said, his voice muffled as he dragged the blanket behind him with his mouth.

“(Poor thing,)” Dogaressa said to her husband. “(His friend must be freezing…)”

“Yeah,” Dogamy murmured.

* * *

“I got us a blanket,” Tem said as he set the blanket down.

Chara picked it up and wrapped it around themself. “Thanks, Tem,” they said as they picked him up and held him closer.

“You’re welcome, Chara,” the dog said, yawning. “Goodnight…”

“Goodnight,” the human murmured. Their eyes closed as they drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, any thoughts so far? Comment to let me know what you think about this!


	2. Chapter 2

Sentry duty wasn’t nearly as hard as Papyrus thought it would be. All he had to do was sit around and wait for a human to come, and then he’d take them to his brother, who would throw puzzles at them. The job was practically easy!

Papyrus still had his doubts, though. He wasn’t sure if a human would actually come around. Still, he couldn’t let his family down…

Papyrus heard a twig snap. He jerked his head up and started walking down the path. Ahead of him, he saw a silhouette.

“well, what do ya know…it’s a human,” Papyrus murmured, chuckling a little. “today’s my lucky day.”

As he took a few more steps, he noticed how short the human was compared to the others. The other humans who had fallen down were taller, bigger, and stronger—but this one? They were practically the same size as Undyne’s brother!

 _doesn’t matter,_ Papyrus told himself. _all that matters is that there’s a human._

* * *

“Do you think that the people in the town will be nice?” Chara asked as they went down the path in front of them while carrying Tem.

“Well, the dogs who gave us the blanket seemed nice,” Tem replied. “Though, I can’t say much about the other citizens.”

Chara froze for a moment, skidding to a stop.

Tem tried waving a paw in front of their face. “Hello? Earth to Chara!” he said, a little annoyed. “What are you doing? Let’s go!” Then, he looked ahead, and then he understood why Chara wasn’t moving.

There was a tall skeleton wearing a black coat with an orange sweater underneath. From the look on his face, Chara could tell that that his intentions were anything but good.

When he was only a few steps away from them, Chara started to back up, but they stumbled and fell to the ground.

* * *

Papyrus’ eyes widened when he got a closer look at the human. Now he knew why they were so short and why they were wearing a green striped shirt—they were a child! They seemed to be very young, too—around nine, he believed.

They looked so frail and so scared. There was a band aid on their left cheek, and their chin-length hair was a little messy, too. And the look in their eyes…

It reminded Papyrus of himself when he had first met the Dog Sentry all those years ago. He was the same age as Chara when he had met the dogs. He had lost his parents, and his older brother, Sans, had told him that perhaps Snowdin would be a better place to live in. So the two brothers ran away from Hotland. Papyrus had accidently gotten separated from his brother, and had to walk through the cold weather all by himself, until the dogs found him. After being reunited with his brother, the two had decided to stay with the dogs.

After his encounter with one of the humans from before, Papyrus knew that anyone who had climbed the mountain had a reason for doing so, and that reason was not a happy one.

And this kid seemed to be no exception.

Papyrus knew that he couldn’t turn them in just so the queen could take their soul. They were so young and so full of life—it wouldn’t be fair for them to die at the age of nine.

 _but i can’t just leave them,_ Papyrus thought. _i can’t let them go through what i went through. they deserve better. they deserve someone who is willing to take care of them and look after them._

Then, an idea struck him.

 _why don’t i just take care of them myself?_ Papyrus smiled a little at the thought. _yeah, that’s it! i’ll take them in and raise them as if they were my own kid…just like how the dogs raised me and Sans…_

Papyrus then looked back at the human, who was now whimpering and sniffling.

“I-I don’t w-want to hurt a-anybody,” they stammered as they tried wiping away their tears with their sleeves. “I-I’m just t-trying to…trying to…p-please don’t h-hurt me…” They held their friend closer to their chest as more tears threatened to spill down their cheeks.

“human,” Papyrus said as he knelt down to their level, “i’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Y-you’re not…?” Chara said as they looked at him, surprised at how calm he was.

“i’m not.” Papyrus then extended an arm out. “look, kid…i know that this all must be hard for you to take in, but…i want you to know that you’re not alone, because no one’s going to hurt you now that i’m here.” He felt a smile creep its way onto his face. “i’m going to take care of you. i’m going to make sure that no one dare lays a hand on you in a way that is harmful,” he said gently. “i’m here for you now, kid.”

Chara looked Papyrus’ hand and then looked back at his face. “Wh-what’s your name?”

“my name is Papyrus,” the skeleton said.

“I-I’m Chara,” they said.

“nice to meet you, Chara—” Papyrus stopped as Chara threw their arms around his legs, hugging him tightly. Papyrus smiled and ruffled their hair a little. _i’ll find a way to explain it to Dad and Sans, but for now…maybe this could be the start of a brand new life,_ he thought to himself.

Tem growled as he watched the skeleton mess up his friend’s hair even more. There was something about him…something that seemed a little suspicious…

And he was determined to find out what it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gee, I didn't think this would turn out to be so bittersweet.
> 
> Anyway, comments are always appreciated, as are kudos! Let me know what you think of this!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's some actual fluff instead to make up for the last chapter.
> 
> Sorry it's so short, though.

Papyrus knew that the people in Snowdin were hostile when it came to the subject of humans, so he hid Chara in his coat until he made it to his house.

“go inside,” he told them. “i’ll be there in a few minutes. i just gotta take care of something.”

Chara nodded and closed the door behind them.

“PAPYRUS!!” Sans went up to the taller skeleton, glaring at him. “YOU WEREN’T AT YOUR STATION TODAY!! YOU LAZY BONES!!!”

“i was,” Papyrus said as a matter-of-factly, “i just found something.”

“WHAT WAS IT?” Sans asked as he crossed his arms and began to tap his foot.

“well, uh…it was a…” Papyrus tapped his fingers against the side of his skull. _how am i supposed to explain this? i can’t just say, ‘hey, bro, i’ve found a human but they’re a kid so i’ve decided to raise them,’ because then he’ll just try to take them to Alphys._ “you see, i brought home a friend, and…”

“Well then, where are they?” Doggo piped up, startling Papyrus. “I’d like to meet them.”

“they’re _very_ shy, and they’re not really used to a lot of people being around them,” Papyrus lied, “so, maybe you’d like to meet them some other time…” He laughed nervously. “say, i think i saw a human by the door, though.”

“REALLY?? WOW!! TODAY’S JUST OUR LUCKY DAY!” Sans and Doggo then left.

Papyrus let out a sigh of relief.

As he went back inside, he saw Chara walking around the house.

“What…what am I supposed to do?” Chara asked as they turned to Papyrus.

“do whatever you’d like,” Papyrus replied. “you can watch TV, play with some cards…you can do just about anything, really. just don’t get into any trouble, okay?”

As Papyrus lied down on the couch, he felt someone sit on his chest. He sat up and saw Chara snuggling up to him. However, they stopped and looked up at him.

“I’m…I’m sorry,” Chara apologized. “It’s just that I’m not used to…” They let out a yawn.

“c’mere, kid,” Papyrus wrapped his arms around them, hugging them tightly as he rested his head against one of the pillows.

 _That skinny trashbag thinks he can just lie and act as if I didn’t just see him talking to his brother about capturing a human?_ Tem thought angrily as he sat on one of the pillows. _Well, he better make sure that he doesn’t mess with my friend, or else I’ll be sure to make his life a living hell…_

* * *

“THERE’S NO HUMAN HERE!” Sans stomped his foot in frustration.

“…you don’t think that was a trick, do you…?” Doggo asked.

“NO, THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE! PAPYRUS WOULD NEVER…” Sans paused. “…MAYBE THAT WAS WHY HE WASN’T AT HIS STATION…”

“Let’s get back home and check,” Doggo said. Sans nodded and followed the dog.


End file.
